88-517: Dreamchild is a 1985 British drama film written by Dennis Potter , directed by Gavin Millar , and produced by Rick McCallum and Kenith Trodd . The film, starring Coral Browne , Ian Holm , Peter Gallagher , Nicola Cowper and Amelia Shankley , is a fictionalised account of Alice Liddell , the child who inspired Lewis Carroll 's 1865 novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland . The story
176-430: A BAFTA and a Royal Television Society Award, while Widows also gained BAFTA nominations and ratings of over 12 million—unusually for a drama serial, it picked up viewers over the course of its six-week run. Minder became the longest-running series produced by Euston Films, surviving for over a decade following Lambert's departure from the company. Television historian Lez Cooke described Lambert's time in control of
264-462: A better understanding of the film. According to the taxonomy, combining the type with the genre does not create a separate genre. For instance, the "Horror Drama" is simply a dramatic horror film (as opposed to a comedic horror film). "Horror Drama" is not a genre separate from the horror genre or the drama type. Crime dramas explore themes of truth, justice, and freedom, and contain the fundamental dichotomy of "criminal vs. lawman". Crime films make
352-518: A freelance producer outside of her own company. She produced the popular BBC One comedy-drama series Jonathan Creek , by writer David Renwick , ever since taking over the role for its second series in 1998. From then until 2004, she produced eighteen episodes of the programme across four short seasons, plus two Christmas Specials. She and Renwick also collaborated on another comedy-drama, Love Soup , starring Tamsin Greig and transmitted on BBC One in
440-439: A genuinely contemporary flavour, Lambert's costly Euro soap Eldorado suggested a degree of ambition ... which it seemed in the event ill-equipped to realise, and a potentially interesting subject tailed off into implausible melodrama. Eldorado's plotting ... was disappointingly ponderous. As a result, the expatriate community in southern Spain theme and milieu was exploited rather than explored." Other reviewers, even
528-685: A more central component of the story, along with serious content. Examples include Three Colours: White (1994), The Truman Show (1998), The Man Without a Past (2002), The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011), and Silver Linings Playbook (2012). Coined by film professor Ken Dancyger , these stories exaggerate characters and situations to the point of becoming fable, legend or fairy tale. Examples: Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) and Maleficent (2014). Light dramas are light-hearted stories that are, nevertheless, serious in nature. Examples: The Help (2011) and The Terminal (2004). Psychological dramas are dramas that focus on
616-450: A new soap opera , The Newcomers , to produce. Further productions for the BBC included a season of the crime drama Detective (1968–69) and a 26-part series of adaptations of the stories of William Somerset Maugham (1969). In 1969 the comedy series Monty Python's Flying Circus made reference to Lambert in a sketch entitled "Buying a Bed" from the episode "Full Frontal Nudity", which
704-400: A particular setting or subject matter, or they combine a drama's otherwise serious tone with elements that encourage a broader range of moods . To these ends, a primary element in a drama is the occurrence of conflict —emotional, social, or otherwise—and its resolution in the course of the storyline. All forms of cinema or television that involve fictional stories are forms of drama in
792-633: A person's life and raises their level of importance. The "small things in life" feel as important to the protagonist (and the audience) as the climactic battle in an action film, or the final shootout in a western. Often, the protagonists deal with multiple, overlapping issues in the course of the film – just as we do in life. Films of this type/genre combination include: The Wrestler (2008), Fruitvale Station (2013), and Locke (2013). Romantic dramas are films with central themes that reinforce our beliefs about love (e.g.: themes such as "love at first sight", "love conquers all", or "there
880-430: A person, but great art can come out of discipline. Dodgson was a much more complex and heroic man than we think. I'm utterly convinced he never made any questionable physical contact with Alice, but he had what in these post-Freudian days would be called a sexual longing." Makeup and creature effects for the film were created by Jim Henson's Creature Shop . Six complexly detailed creatures, rather malformed, as they are in
968-521: A presence; she was too stiffly theatrical for the camera and her voice was a blaster. Here, as Mrs. Hargreaves, she has the capacity for wonder of the Alice of the stories, and when she's overtaken by frailty her voice is querulous and fading." "The bright, poised, subtly flirty Alice at ten [is] played by Amelia Shankley , whose conversations with her sisters have an angelic precision. The sound of these imperious little-princess voices blended in idle chitchat
SECTION 10
#17327810231521056-458: A short documentary feature, Verity Lambert Obituary , described as "a concise essay looking back over the career of one of Doctor Who' s co-creators." For Doctor Who' s fiftieth anniversary in 2013, the BBC commissioned a drama about the creation of the programme, entitled An Adventure in Space and Time . Lambert was played by actress Jessica Raine . On 23 July 2014, a blue heritage plaque
1144-579: A shy young orphan named Lucy (Cowper), old Alice must make her way through the modern world of tabloid journalism and commercial exploitation while attempting to come to peace with her conflicted childhood with the Oxford don . The film begins on the ship bearing elderly widow Alice Hargreaves, who as Alice Liddell was Lewis Carroll 's muse and the inspiration for his book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland , and her caretaker Lucy. As they disembark, they are set upon by several journalists, all trying to get
1232-626: A slim script and half-a-dozen congenial players." Lambert was born in London , the daughter of a Jewish accountant, and was educated at Roedean School . She left Roedean at sixteen with six O-Levels and pursued a six months language course at the University of Paris enrolling at a secretarial college upon returning to London for eighteen months. She later credited her interest in the structural and characterisational aspects of scriptwriting to an inspirational English teacher. Lambert's first job
1320-464: A specific approach to drama but, rather, consider drama as a lack of comedic techniques. Examples: Ghost World (2001) and Wuthering Heights (2011). According to the Screenwriters' Taxonomy, all film descriptions should contain their type (comedy or drama) combined with one (or more) of the eleven super-genres. This combination does not create a separate genre, but rather, provides
1408-472: A story or quote from Alice about her relationship with Carroll, whom she knew as "Mr. Dodgson". Clearly bewildered by all the excitement, she is befriended by an ex-reporter, Jack Dolan, who helps her and Lucy through the legions of the press. Dolan quickly becomes her agent and finds endorsement opportunities for her. Throughout it all, a romance develops between Jack and Lucy. When left alone in their hotel room, Alice hallucinates that Mr. Dodgson ( Ian Holm )
1496-534: A time when a series needs new input," she told Doctor Who Magazine thirty years later. "It's not that I wasn't fond of Doctor Who , I simply felt that the time had come. It had been eighteen very concentrated months, something like seventy shows. I know people do soaps forever now, but I felt Doctor Who needed someone to come in with a different view." 15 episodes produced by Lambert—all episodes of Marco Polo , two episodes of The Reign of Terror , two episodes of The Crusade , three episodes of Galaxy 4 and
1584-447: Is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction ) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-genre, macro-genre, or micro-genre, such as soap opera , police crime drama , political drama , legal drama , historical drama , domestic drama , teen drama , and comedy-drama (dramedy). These terms tend to indicate
1672-526: Is a final fight to the death; the idea of the protagonists facing death is a central expectation in a war drama film. In a war film even though the enemy may out-number, or out-power, the hero, we assume that the enemy can be defeated if only the hero can figure out how. Examples include: Apocalypse Now (1979), Come and See (1985), Braveheart (1995), Life Is Beautiful (1997), Black Book (2006), The Hurt Locker (2008), 1944 (2015), Wildeye (2015), and 1917 (2019). Films in
1760-704: Is in their room, as well as the Mad Hatter , the March Hare , The Caterpillar , the Dormouse , the Mock Turtle , and the Gryphon . When she joins them for their tea party , they make fun of her for being so old and forgetful. She remembers also the lazy boating party of 4 July 1862, when Dodgson, then a mathematics professor at her father's school, had attempted to entertain her and her sisters by spinning
1848-639: Is plangent, evocative. It makes you happy and makes you respond to the happiness of the Reverend Mr. Dodgson as he loiters outside the little girls' windows, eavesdropping... Ian Holm , who plays Dodgson, has to achieve almost all his effects passively, by registering the man's acute and agonizing self-consciousness and his furtive reactions to what goes on around him; it's all there in Holm's performance." Andrew Sarris 's review in The Village Voice
SECTION 20
#17327810231521936-421: Is someone out there for everyone"); the story typically revolves around characters falling into (and out of, and back into) love. Annie Hall (1977), The Notebook (2004), Carol (2015), Her (2013) , and La La Land (2016) are examples of romance dramas. The science fiction drama film is often the story of a protagonist (and their allies) facing something "unknown" that has the potential to change
2024-622: Is that in a documentary it uses real people to describe history or current events; in a docudrama it uses professionally trained actors to play the roles in the current event, that is "dramatized" a bit. Examples: Black Mass (2015) and Zodiac (2007). Unlike docudramas, docu-fictional films combine documentary and fiction, where actual footage or real events are intermingled with recreated scenes. Examples: Interior. Leather Bar (2013) and Your Name Here (2015). Many otherwise serious productions have humorous scenes and characters intended to provide comic relief . A comedy drama has humor as
2112-817: Is told from the point of view of an elderly Alice (now the widowed Mrs. Hargreaves) as she travels to the United States from England to receive an honorary degree from Columbia University celebrating the centenary of Carroll's birth. It shares common themes with Potter's television play Alice (1965). The film evolves from the factual to the hallucinatory as Alice revisits her memories of the Reverend Charles Dodgson (Holm), in Victorian-era Oxford to her immediate present in Depression-era New York. Accompanied by
2200-478: The Museum of Broadcast Communications hails her as "not only one of Britain's leading businesswomen, but possibly the most powerful member of the nation's entertainment industry ... Lambert has served as a symbol of the advances won by women in the media". The British Film Institute 's Screenonline website describes Lambert as "one of those producers who can often create a fascinating small screen universe from
2288-457: The film industry, as director of production for Thorn EMI Screen Entertainment . Her job here was somewhat frustrating as the British film industry was in one of its periodic states of flux, but she did produce several feature films, including Clockwise (1986). Lambert later expressed some regret on her time in the film industry in a feature for The Independent newspaper. "Unfortunately,
2376-506: The suffragette movement of the early 20th century. Later in 1974, Lambert became Head of Drama at Thames Television . During her time in this position she oversaw several high-profile and successful contributions to the ITV network, including The Naked Civil Servant (1975), Rock Follies (1976–77), Rumpole of the Bailey (1978–92) and Edward and Mrs Simpson (1978). In 1976, she
2464-763: The western super-genre often take place in the American Southwest or Mexico, with a large number of scenes occurring outdoors so we can soak in scenic landscapes. Visceral expectations for the audience include fistfights, gunplay, and chase scenes. There is also the expectation of spectacular panoramic images of the countryside including sunsets, wide open landscapes, and endless deserts and sky. Examples of western dramas include: True Grit (1969) and its 2010 remake , Mad Max (1979), Unforgiven (1992), No Country for Old Men (2007), Django Unchained (2012), Hell or High Water (2016), and Logan (2017). Some film categories that use
2552-558: The 1950s. She began her career as a producer at the BBC by becoming the founding producer of the science-fiction series Doctor Who from 1963 until 1965. She left the BBC in 1969 and worked for other television companies, notably having a long association with Thames Television and its Euston Films offshoot in the 1970s and 1980s. Her many credits as producer include Adam Adamant Lives! , The Naked Civil Servant , Rock Follies , Minder , Widows , G.B.H. , Jonathan Creek , Love Soup and Eldorado . She also worked in
2640-518: The 20th century. In the 2007 Doctor Who episode " Human Nature ", the Tenth Doctor refers to his parents as "Sydney" and "Verity", a tribute to both Newman and Lambert. She is further honoured in the episode "The End of Time" when the Doctor visits the great-granddaughter of Matron Joan Redfern, the human love interest he gave up to reclaim his Time Lord memories in the episode "Human Nature";
2728-586: The 44th anniversary of Doctor Who . She was due to have been presented with a lifetime achievement award at the Women in Film and Television Awards the following month. She was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium . In 2000, the Lambert productions Doctor Who and The Naked Civil Servant finished third and fourth respectively in a British Film Institute poll of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes of
Dreamchild - Misplaced Pages Continue
2816-493: The Apes (1968), A Clockwork Orange (1971), Blade Runner (1982) and its sequel Blade Runner 2049 (2017), Children of Men (2006), Interstellar (2014), and Arrival (2016). In the sports super-genre, characters will be playing sports. Thematically, the story is often one of "Our Team" versus "Their Team"; their team will always try to win, and our team will show the world that they deserve recognition or redemption;
2904-560: The Daleks ;... is conducted by a remarkably attractive young woman called Verity Lambert who, at 28, is not only the youngest but the only female drama producer at B.B.C. TV ... [T]all, dark and shapely, she became positively forbidding when I suggested that the Daleks might one day take over Dr. Who ." Lambert oversaw the first two seasons of the programme and the first part of the third, eventually leaving in 1965. "There comes
2992-409: The accuracy of Potter's script. "It is a pity that artistic licence is used to distort the facts beyond recognition... creating impressions that are totally unjustified. " In an article published many years later, in 2014, in the film magazine Sight & Sound , Philip Horne expanded on the relative obscurity of Dreamchild and wrote that it "remains a film worth fighting for." Lambert said it
3080-407: The audience jump through a series of mental "hoops"; it is not uncommon for the crime drama to use verbal gymnastics to keep the audience and the protagonist on their toes. Examples of crime dramas include: The Godfather (1972), Chinatown (1974), Goodfellas (1990), The Usual Suspects (1995), The Big Short (2015), and Udta Punjab (2016). According to Eric R. Williams ,
3168-896: The autumn of 2005. Her last work was to produce the second series of Love Soup . In the 2002 New Year's Honours list Lambert was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her services to film and television production, and the same year she received BAFTA's Alan Clarke Award for Outstanding Contribution to Television. In 1973, Lambert married television director Colin Bucksey . They separated in 1984 and divorced in 1987. She had no children, once telling an interviewer, "I can't stand babies—no, I love babies as long as their parents take them away." Lambert died of cancer on 22 November 2007, in London, one day before
3256-479: The best part of a decade after the programme's cancellation, were much harsher, with Rupert Smith's comments in The Guardian in 2002 being a typical example. "A £10 million farce that left the BBC with egg all over its entire body and put an awful lot of Equity members back on the dole ... it will always be remembered as the most expensive flop of all time." In the early 1990s, Lambert attempted to win
3344-539: The book, were made. The Gryphon and the sorrowful Mock Turtle live among ledges of rock on a darkling seashore. The March Hare has broken yellowish teeth and soiled looking whiskers and he seems to be chewing even while he is speaking. He, the Mad Hatter , and the Dormouse , and the Caterpillar too, 'converse in the same matter of fact, egalitarian manner that the visiting Alice does.' The puppets were based on
3432-412: The broader sense if their storytelling is achieved by means of actors who represent ( mimesis ) characters . In this broader sense, drama is a mode distinct from novels, short stories , and narrative poetry or songs . In the modern era, before the birth of cinema or television, "drama" within theatre was a type of play that was neither a comedy nor a tragedy . It is this narrower sense that
3520-549: The character is named "Verity Newman". In the 2007 Christmas special " Voyage of the Damned ", a dedication to Lambert was shown before the rolling of the end credits. In April 2008, BBC Four aired an evening-long tribute to Lambert's work at the network, including a documentary and repeats of her most popular programmes. Also that year, the DVD release of The Time Meddler included the last commentary she made before her death, and
3608-533: The characters' inner life and psychological problems. Examples: Requiem for a Dream (2000), Oldboy (2003), Babel (2006), Whiplash (2014), and Anomalisa (2015) Satire can involve humor, but the result is typically sharp social commentary that is anything but funny. Satire often uses irony or exaggeration to expose faults in society or individuals that influence social ideology. Examples: Thank You for Smoking (2005) and Idiocracy (2006). Straight drama applies to those that do not attempt
Dreamchild - Misplaced Pages Continue
3696-813: The company. She established her own independent production company, Cinema Verity . The company's first production was the feature film A Cry in the Dark (1988), starring Sam Neill and Meryl Streep based on the " dingo baby " case in Australia. Cinema Verity's first television series, the BBC1 sitcom May to December , debuted in 1989 and ran until 1994. The company also produced another successful BBC1 sitcom, So Haunt Me , which ran from 1992 to 1994. Lambert executive produced Alan Bleasdale 's hard-hitting drama serial G.B.H. (1991), commissioned by Channel 4 , which won several awards. Her relationship with Bleasdale
3784-473: The course of the film. Thematically, horror films often serve as morality tales, with the killer serving up violent penance for the victims' past sins. Metaphorically, these become battles of Good vs. Evil or Purity vs. Sin. Psycho (1960), Halloween (1978), The Shining (1980), The Conjuring (2013), It (2017), mother! (2017), and Hereditary (2018) are examples of horror drama films. Day-in-the-life films takes small events in
3872-410: The drama department at Thames as "an adventurous period for the company, demonstrating that it was not only the BBC that was capable of producing progressive television drama during the 1970s. Lambert wanted Thames to produce drama series 'which were attempting in one way or another to tackle modern problems and life,' an ambition which echoed the philosophy of her mentor Sydney Newman." Howard Schuman ,
3960-481: The family as a whole reacts to a central challenge. There are four micro-genres for the family drama: Family Bond , Family Feud , Family Loss , and Family Rift . A sub-type of drama films that uses plots that appeal to the heightened emotions of the audience. Melodramatic plots often deal with "crises of human emotion, failed romance or friendship, strained familial situations, tragedy, illness, neuroses, or emotional and physical hardship". Film critics sometimes use
4048-409: The film and television industries, along with film studies , adopted. " Radio drama " has been used in both senses—originally transmitted in a live performance, it has also been used to describe the more high-brow and serious end of the dramatic output of radio . The Screenwriters Taxonomy contends that film genres are fundamentally based upon a film's atmosphere, character and story, and therefore
4136-468: The film industry for Thorn EMI Screen Entertainment . From 1985 she ran her own production company, Cinema Verity . She continued to work as a producer until the year she died. Women were rarely television producers in Britain at the beginning of Lambert's career. When she was appointed to Doctor Who in 1963, she was BBC Television 's only female drama producer, as well as the youngest. The website of
4224-458: The film to almost disappear without a trace. Browne came to London to promote the film and receive The London Evening Standard's Best Actress Award for the film, appearing on the TV chat show Wogan in an attempt to publicise the film, also taking out an ad in the entertainment journal Variety offering her performance 'for your consideration' in 'Oscar Season', all at her own cost. The film made
4312-456: The film's producer, Verity Lambert , "never wanted the dean, Alice's father, to be [played by] Nigel Hawthorne ," actively but unsuccessfully opposing him cast in the role. Millar later recalled, that during the editing process, "every scene with Nigel in it, she was down on it like a ton of bricks. And she gradually cut him out and out and out of every scene," so the director eventually had to edit out Hawthorne's part completely. The film's score
4400-477: The first series, Verity commissioned the second." Lambert's association with Thames and Euston Films continued into the 1980s. In 1982, she rejoined the staff of parent company Thames Television as director of drama, and was given a seat on the company's board . In November 1982 she left Thames, but remained as chief executive at Euston until leaving in November of the following year to take up her first post in
4488-468: The following year Lambert joined him at the corporation. Newman had recruited her to produce Doctor Who , a programme he had personally conceived and initiated as an educational science-fiction serial for early Saturday evenings. The programme concerned the adventures of an old man travelling through space and time in his TARDIS , disguised as a police box . In some quarters, the series was not expected to last longer than thirteen weeks. Although Lambert
SECTION 50
#17327810231524576-416: The future of humanity; this unknown may be represented by a villain with incomprehensible powers, a creature we do not understand, or a scientific scenario that threatens to change the world; the science fiction story forces the audience to consider the nature of human beings, the confines of time or space or the concepts of human existence in general. Examples include: Metropolis (1927), Planet of
4664-416: The hallmark of fantasy drama films is "a sense of wonderment, typically played out in a visually intense world inhabited by mythic creatures, magic or superhuman characters. Props and costumes within these films often belie a sense of mythology and folklore – whether ancient, futuristic, or other-worldly. The costumes, as well as the exotic world, reflect the personal, inner struggles that the hero faces in
4752-492: The independent production company Talent Associates in New York . Returning to England, she rejoined ABC with an ambition to direct, but remained a production assistant and found it impossible to gain promotion. She decided that, if she could not find advancement within a year, she would abandon television as a career. In December 1962, Sydney Newman left ABC to take up the position of Head of Drama at BBC Television , and
4840-408: The labels "drama" and "comedy" are too broad to be considered a genre. Instead, the taxonomy contends that film dramas are a "Type" of film; listing at least ten different sub-types of film and television drama. Docudramas are dramatized adaptations of real-life events. While not always completely accurate, the general facts are more-or-less true. The difference between a docudrama and a documentary
4928-465: The legal system. Films that focus on dramatic events in history. Focuses on doctors, nurses, hospital staff, and ambulance saving victims and the interactions of their daily lives. Focuses on teenage characters, especially where a secondary school setting plays a role. Verity Lambert Verity Ann Lambert OBE (27 November 1935 – 22 November 2007) was an English television and film producer. Lambert began working in television in
5016-552: The nonsense tale that grew to be Alice's Adventures in Wonderland . Via flashbacks, it is insinuated that Dodgson was infatuated with Alice, and that their relationship may have had sexual overtones. She recalls the boating party through this new perspective; she realizes that Dodgson was jealous when she met the boy whom she would one day marry, and that she enjoyed toying with his affections, deliberately baiting him to provoke his nervous stutter. Alice tries to understand her feelings and past relationship with Dodgson in her mind. By
5104-491: The original Tenniel drawings, although Potter wanted them interpreted towards the dark side. Puppet movement and choreography was developed by American actress and choreographer Gates McFadden . Due to a problem with work visas, McFadden was unable to receive full credit in this film. The Chinese costume sequence in the film depicting Dodgson taking Alice's portrait at Oxford is based on actual photographs he took of her and her sisters. Dodgson, an early pioneer of photography,
5192-403: The person who hired me left, and the person who came in didn't want to produce films and didn't want me. While I managed to make some films I was proud of— Dennis Potter 's Dreamchild , and Clockwise with John Cleese—it was terribly tough and not a very happy experience." In late 1985, Lambert left Thorn EMI, frustrated at the lack of success and at restructuring measures being undertaken by
5280-441: The plaque was placed into storage. In 2022 it was reinstalled on the exterior of the building and unveiled at a ceremony attended by many people from television, including actors Caroline Quentin , Larry Lamb , Carole Ann Ford and Anna Carteret , writer Lynda La Plante , former Doctor Who producers Philip Hinchcliffe and Steven Moffat , Ofcom chair Michael Grade , and former vision mixer Clive Doig . The main family in
5368-463: The rights to produce Doctor Who independently for the BBC; this effort was unsuccessful because the corporation was already in negotiations with producer Philip Segal in the United States. Cinema Verity projects that did reach production included Sleepers (BBC1, 1991) and The Cazalets (BBC One, 2001), the latter co-produced by actress Joanna Lumley , whose idea it was to adapt the novels by Elizabeth Jane Howard . Lambert continued to work as
SECTION 60
#17327810231525456-479: The script in which the Daleks first appeared, but after the serial's successful airing, he said that Lambert clearly knew the series far better than he did, and he would no longer interfere in her decisions. The success of Doctor Who and the Daleks also garnered press attention for Lambert herself; in 1964, the Daily Mail published a feature on the series focusing on its young producer's looks: "The operation of
5544-506: The secretary to the company's Head of Drama and then a production secretary working on a programme called State Your Case . She then moved from administration to production, working on drama programming on ABC's popular anthology series Armchair Theatre and also early episodes of The Avengers , both of which were then overseen by the new Head of Drama, Canadian producer Sydney Newman . Catastrophic incidents could occur on live television of this era. On 28 November 1958, while Lambert
5632-528: The standalone Mission to the Unknown — were not retained in the BBC Archives, mainly affecting her first year working on the show. Lambert moved on to produce another BBC show developed by Newman, the swashbuckling action-adventure series Adam Adamant Lives! (1966–67). The long development period of Adam Adamant delayed its production, and during this delay Newman gave her the initial episodes of
5720-474: The story and added to his script, basing Dreamchild on a real incident where Alice went to New York to collect an honorary degree. He decided to do it as a feature, but after unhappy experiences writing Pennies from Heaven and Gorky Park he did it through his own company and also worked as executive producer. He used the producer and director of his successful TV production, Cream in My Coffee . The film
5808-534: The story does not always have to involve a team. The story could also be about an individual athlete or the story could focus on an individual playing on a team. Examples of this genre/type include: The Hustler (1961), Hoosiers (1986), Remember the Titans (2000), and Moneyball (2011). War films typically tells the story of a small group of isolated individuals who – one by one – get killed (literally or metaphorically) by an outside force until there
5896-525: The story." Examples of fantasy dramas include The Lord of the Rings (2001–2003), Pan's Labyrinth (2006), Where the Wild Things Are (2009), and Life of Pi (2012). Horror dramas often involve the central characters isolated from the rest of society. These characters are often teenagers or people in their early twenties (the genre's central audience) and are eventually killed off during
5984-400: The ten-best lists of many critics. By 1986 it sold $ 490,690 worth of tickets. In order to get Universal to release the film, EMI had to pay for the prints and all the advertising costs. The film was reviewed favourably by the critic Pauline Kael who praised the performances. "Nothing I've seen Coral Browne do onscreen had prepared me for this performance. In the past she seemed too bullying
6072-578: The term "pejoratively to connote an unrealistic, pathos-filled, camp tale of romance or domestic situations with stereotypical characters (often including a central female character) that would directly appeal to feminine audiences". Also called "women's movies", "weepies", tearjerkers, or "chick flicks". If they are targeted to a male audience, then they are called "guy cry" films. Often considered "soap-opera" drama. Focuses on religious characters, mystery play, beliefs, and respect. Character development based on themes involving criminals, law enforcement and
6160-410: The time she delivers her acceptance speech at Columbia University , she comes to terms with Dodgson and the way they treated each other. In another fantasy sequence with the Mock Turtle and the Gryphon, she and Dodgson forgive each other and make peace. Potter had previously adapted the story for television in 1965 for the BBC's Wednesday Play anthology series, under the title Alice . Potter expanded
6248-498: The word "comedy" or "drama" are not recognized by the Screenwriters Taxonomy as either a film genre or a film type. For instance, "Melodrama" and "Screwball Comedy" are considered Pathways, while "romantic comedy" and "family drama" are macro-genres. A macro-genre in the Screenwriters Taxonomy. These films tell a story in which many of the central characters are related. The story revolves around how
6336-454: The world premiere in Oxford, Wakeling found the film " visually stunning... well made technically, with actors of outstanding ability ". He criticised 2 key areas of the script, subtext and narrative. The film's subtext in implying that Dodgson was in love with 10 year old Liddell. " The "love" that is suggested in the film is tainted by impropriety. Many... scenes are totally without fact.. " and
6424-415: The writer of Rock Follies , also later praised the bravery of Lambert's commissioning. "Verity Lambert had just arrived as head of drama at Thames TV and she went for broke," he told The Observer newspaper in 2002. "She commissioned a serial, Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill , for safety, but also Bill Brand , one of the edgiest political dramas ever, and us ... Before we had even finished making
6512-414: Was also made responsible for overseeing the work of Euston Films , Thames' subsidiary film production company, at the time best known as the producers of The Sweeney . In 1979 she transferred to Euston full-time as the company's chief executive, overseeing productions such as Quatermass (1979), Minder (1979–94) and Widows (1983). In recognition of her contribution to the film industry, Lambert
6600-562: Was appointed as a Governor of the British Film Institute in 1981, serving on the organisation's Board until 1986. At Thames and Euston, Lambert enjoyed the most sustained period of critical and popular success of her career. The Naked Civil Servant won a British Academy Television Award (BAFTA) for its star John Hurt as well as a Broadcasting Press Guild Award and a prize at the Prix Italia ; Rock Follies won
6688-558: Was broadcast on BBC 1 on 7 December 1969. Eric Idle plays a salesman named "Mr Verity" and Graham Chapman plays a salesman named "Mr Lambert". In 1969 Lambert left the staff of the BBC to join London Weekend Television , where she produced Budgie (1970–72) and Between the Wars (1973). She returned to the BBC on a freelance basis to produce Shoulder to Shoulder (1974), a series of six 75-minute plays about
6776-402: Was composed by Stanley Myers . The film received only a very limited release in a small number of 'art house' theatres mainly due to challenges by the film's distributors. In Britain, the film only played in one London cinema for a limited engagement. Disagreements and legal challenges between the film's production company, the distributors and the cinema chains in other unrelated matters caused
6864-556: Was considered one of the world's first portrait photographers . Dennis Potter 's use of pop entertainment of the 1930s in his works is present in this film. " I Only Have Eyes for You " is sung at a tea dance at the Waldorf Astoria and Mrs. Hargreaves has a scene at a radio station that includes a crooner's rendition of " Confessin' ". The Depression-era setting of the film is in 1932, when Alice turned 80, two years before she died in 1934. According to director Gavin Millar,
6952-559: Was gutsy and she used to fight and argue with me, even though she was not at a very high level as a production assistant." When Lambert arrived at the BBC in June 1963, she was initially given a more experienced associate producer, Mervyn Pinfield , to assist her. Doctor Who debuted on 23 November 1963 and quickly became a success for the BBC, chiefly on the popularity of the alien creatures known as Daleks . Lambert's superior, Head of Serials Donald Wilson , had strongly advised against using
7040-422: Was not Newman's first choice to produce the series— Don Taylor and Shaun Sutton had both declined the position—he was very keen to ensure that Lambert took the job after his experience of working with her at ABC. "I think the best thing I ever did on that was to find Verity Lambert," he told Doctor Who Magazine in 1993. "I remembered Verity as being bright and, to use the phrase, full of piss and vinegar! She
7128-464: Was not entirely smooth – the writer has admitted in subsequent interviews that he "wanted to kill Verity Lambert" after she insisted on the cutting of large portions of his first draft script before production began. Bleasdale subsequently admitted that she was right about the majority of the cut material, and when the production was finished, he only missed one small scene from those she had demanded be excised. A less successful Cinema Verity production
7216-580: Was one of the films of which she was most proud when she ran EMI. In 2012 producers Ron Bloom and Gene Kirkwood said they had the rights to the script and were looking at doing a new version. Coral Browne received the Best Actress Evening Standard British Film Award for her performance. Amelia Shankley was named Best Actress at the 1986 Paris Film Festival for her role as young Alice. Drama (film and television) In film and television , drama
7304-572: Was part of a slate of movies greenlit by Verity Lambert at EMI Films. Others included Slayground , Morons from Outer Space , and Comfort and Joy . "EMI back with four feature films" – Peter Fiddick. The Guardian 16 Nov 1983: 2. There was no US money in the film but Universal had first right of refusal to distribute. Potter said the movie "was perilously close to an art film but I'm sick of films made for teeny tots or adults who never grew up." and "It's alleged that when you repress things you know are doubtful, that's supposed to be harmful to you as
7392-604: Was the soap opera Eldorado , a co-production with the BBC, set in a British expatriate community in Spain. At the time, it was the most expensive commission the BBC had given out to an independent production company. Launched with a major publicity campaign and running in a high-profile slot three evenings a week on BBC1, the series was critically mauled and lasted only a year, from 1992 to 1993. Lambert's biography at Screenonline suggests some reasons for this failure: "With on-location production facilities and an evident striving for
7480-476: Was the typing of menus at the Kensington De Vere Hotel, which employed her because she had been to France and could speak French. In 1956, she entered the television industry as a secretary at Granada Television 's press office. She was sacked from this job after six months. Following her dismissal from Granada, Lambert took a job as a shorthand -typist at ABC Weekend TV . She soon became
7568-513: Was titled "the Film That Got Away." Sarris wrote that the film "gets infinitely better as it goes along, rising inexorably towards a rich epiphany " and resisting "facile irony". He wrote, "what makes the film so rousing and inspiring is its invocation of love and art as redemptive forces pitted against the dark spirits." Lewis Carroll scholar Edward Wakeling took a more dim view of the film. When writing in 1986 about his experience at
7656-641: Was unveiled by the Doctor Who Appreciation Society and the Riverside Trust, at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith in London. The plaque commemorates Lambert at Riverside and elsewhere. The plaque was unveiled by director Waris Hussein , her longtime friend and colleague, and the unveiling was attended by many friends and associates from over the years. When Riverside Studios was closed for redevelopment later that year,
7744-438: Was working as a Production Assistant on Armchair Theatre , an actor died during a live broadcast of Underground and she had to take responsibility for directing the cameras from the studio gallery while director Ted Kotcheff worked with the actors on the studio floor to accommodate the loss. In 1961, Lambert left ABC, spending a year working as the personal assistant to American television producer David Susskind at
#151848